Greek police raid homes of Golden Dawn lawmakers

(AP) ATHENS, Greece - Greek police have raided the homes of three lawmakers from the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party, days before they are to appear in court on charges of participating in a criminal organization.

The party said on its website that police confiscated mobile phones, hard discs, SIM cards and data storage sticks in Thursday’s searches of the homes of Giorgos Germenis, Stathis Boukouras and Panagiotis Iliopoulos. Golden Dawn called for a rally outside parliament on Thursday evening in protest.

Authorities cracked down on Golden Dawn after the August fatal stabbing of a Greek musician, for which a party supporter has been charged. Nine of the party’s 18 lawmakers have been charged with participating in a criminal organization.

Golden Dawn rose from the fringes to become Greece’s third most popular party.